Real World: A Contact List..

[d3ph03n1x]

What I'm trying to do is create a Simple contact list, with a menu, which i would add contacts too, edit contacts, view them, and search them when there is a long list, maybe on the basis of contact numbers or names. And first start with saving them in a file. Then once i have that functioning correctly. Either use the text file as a temp dump to update the database. Or if that's not possible or not the correct way to go about the solution, then would directly connect it to the database.
Once successful I shall start adding the GUI interface to the program.


it will have Add contact, Edit Contact, View contact, Search contact, and Exit.

How should I go about it ?

A flowchart would be handy If possible. Or even pseudo code.


Thanks!

[bvdet]

You should consider using sqlite for your database. Information about sqlite can be found here. Another possibility is maintaining your contact list as an XML document. I am a bit familiar with xml.dom.minidom , and there are other modules available for maintaining XML documents such as ElementTree and PyXML.

[d3ph03n1x]

Ok I totally forgot about sqlite, I had heard about this sometime back, but never really paid any attention. I shall try it out.

Though when you say xml How Safe and Secure is it ? Compared to Mysql or postgre sql ? or even a text file ? I'm sorry but I have no info regarding xml as a storage file/product. Though I do know openoffice.org can save documents as xml. Can i have a Password on the xml file, like a database. the same for sqlite, Can i add a password in the future. Just want to know if there is a option to create users. If it does not exist, does not matter.

I would like to use all methods, since im on a learning curve, dont want to leave a single stone unturned. :)

Thanks once more! :)

[bvdet]

XML is a text document, so it can be read just by opening in a text editor. This is my favorite XML tutorial. You can setup a password to open your database file through your program. I don't know how to make the database file itself secure by password.

I think sqlite over XML would be the better choice for a contact database in terms of performance and security.